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Winter flowers

Lou12Lou12 Posts: 1,149
in Plants

I have never tried winter pansies or any other winter annuals and wondered if they can look lush or if they just look a bit pathetic through winter.

I can't imagine that they flower very strongly, am I wrong? I just don't know if it's worth it or if I should concentrate on planting strong structural looking evergreens instead.

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  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I agree with Verdun re pansies, waste of space. Those mentioned, plus sarcococca if you want a shrub with a great scent and not as miffy as daphne, Cyclamen coum, snowdrops. 



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,481
    Pansies not lush but heroic. You've got to give them credit for survival!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I want plants that do more than survive B3. Pansies only flower in winter if growers get the timing right, they wouldn't do that naturally, they're not winter plants, they surviveimage



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • ElusiveElusive Posts: 992

    I find any of the Cyclamen varieties very pretty through Winter in sheltered spots, always do well here.

    Especially Coum

  • Lou12Lou12 Posts: 1,149

    That's interesting thanks, I do currently grow cyclamen coum (my favourite), sarcococca, hellebores, snowdrops but heathers shrivel and die, they don't like my soil. Shame as I love them.

    I won't bother with the pansies then.

     

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546

    Primroses and polyanthus are pretty tough and flower through the winter in all but the harshest weather (and I get plenty up here in the Pennines!). They soon come back after frost or snow, a little battered but unbowed. Primula 'Wanda' is reputedly the toughest of them all, but is only a small plant. Viburnum X Bodnantese 'Dawn' has clusters of pink, honey scented flowers in mild spells all through the winter too. I grow hyacinths indoors for the worst months, usually the end of Feb/beginning of March, when I've had enough of winter and the weather is still too vile to get outside!

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139

    Not pansies, but try violas, or the cross between the two, panolas - for me they flower non-stop through the winter - even if they get covered by snow they come up smiling image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,481
    I always go for the ones with the faces. Particularly the ones that look like Roy Wood.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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